Engage Files Chapter 11

Once a familiar name in the top tier of Internet companies, online advertising software provider Engage on Thursday filed a Chapter 11 petition with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Worcester, Massachusetts. In court papers, Engage said it "did not believe it had any reasonable prospect of obtaining sufficient capital in order to sustain its current business structure" outside Chapter 11. The company said it would also sell nearly all of its assets to Scene7 Inc., a graphics software company, for $1.2 million in cash, and that Scene 7 would assume about $650,000 to $850,000 in liabilities. Engage, based in Andover, Massachusetts, listed $52.1 million of assets and $16.6 million of debts. Engage said it is "unlikely" that shareholders will recover anything for their holdings.

Accipiter CEO Brian Handly commented on Engage's financial conditions announcement, stating that it "doesn't affect Accipiter as we are 100% employee-owned and we don't have any ties to Engage." In November of 2002, Accipiter acquired the online advertising assets and associated intellectual property, including AdManager, AdBureau, and the anonymous behavioral targeting technology from Engage. "Although this situation doesn't affect Accipiter or our customers, I'm sympathetic to the remaining staff members and Engage shareholders," Handly said.